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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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exact justice in the case of any complaint on the part of the convict against the overseer.
It is next objected that task-work is unequal in its operation, and places the active, the intelligent, and the healthy, in a better position than the weak, the ignorant, and the sickly. But this is true of every kind of punishment that can be devised. The same description of labour which to the convict poacher or labourer is mere amusement, is usually to the con- vict forger or pickpocket most severe toil; and on the other hand, while the pickpocket or burglar feels no degradation in being thrown into company with 200 or 300 vagabonds of the same class as himself, the elergyman, the clerk, and others, who have yielded to temptation and are expiating their perhaps solitary offence by transportation, feel most acutely the state of degradation to which they are reduced, and their punishment is thus aggravated tenfold.
To diminish as far as possible, these inequalities, a careful system of classification should be adopted in the first instance, and then the task should be proportioned to the powers, physical or moral, of the class. Having done this, each individual of the class must be subjected to the same amount of toil.
On the subject of punishments for the daily petty offences against the rules and regulations under which the convicts must be placed, I do not It would be desirable to introduce as, many propose any alteration. secondary punishments as will be effective, and amongst them fines, which would have the effect of prolonging a man's time; for though I do not agree with Captain Maconochie in thinking that this would answer as the sole punishment, I do not doubt that as one among others it would be very useful. The lash must be reserved for those offences of a grave description, which require to be met by a punishment, short, sharp, and decisive. These, however, are details which must be considered on the / spot.
I will now proceed to consider what immediate steps can be taken to remedy the present evils, to find employment for the pass-holders, who are now almost idle, to make their labour, when they do work, more available for the benefit of the Treasury and for that of the colony. There will be on the 1st January 1817, in round numbers, about 16,000 pass-holders and 6,600 probationers. Of the pass-holders 9000 may perhaps be employed, and able to procure their own livelihood, leaving 7000 for whom the Government will have to provide.
A certain number of these may be employed in cultivating the ground for the support of the remainder." But they should be so employed upon farms which should be always open for purchase by private persons, at a price which would cover the cost of clearing and improving them. But the erecting of villages, as before described, 'I conceive to be the kind of employment calculated most speedily to relieve the public from the present cost of maintaining these people, and to repay the expense incurred. Subject to these conditions I propose that the system of task-work already detailed I have very little should, as far as possible, be adopted with fhese men. doubt that by adopting a proper system of cultivation, and by holding out to the convicts sufficient inducements to exertion, a small proportion of their whole number, certainly not more than one-eighth, will be able to provide food for the whole convict population. I must renpark, however, ihat this cannot be an immediate result, it will probably take two or three years to work out, as proper situations must be selected where the land is capable of yielding a fair return for the labour bestowed upon it. The ground must be cleared and prepared, and a proper rotation of crops adopted. As in this country it is impossible to procure a return from land which does not receive a proper allowance of manure, and as this cannot be procured without a stock of cattle, it would at first view seem to be very desirable that the Governor should be empowered to purchase a certain amount of stock, and in fact to establish the farm or farms upon such a footing as would ensure their proper cultivation, and thus in a short time to obtain the amount of meat required for the convict popula- *ion without any expense to the Commissariat.
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But I am not satisfied of the propriety of allowing cattle to be bought for these purposes. The proper care of animals can hardly be secured, except by employing free and trustworthy labourers. A virgin soil does not for some years require manure, and tanks would supply much aid of that kind. I must therefore reserve this part of the subject for further consideration, after you shall have considered it on the spot, and reported your mature conclusions respecting it.
Thus much as regards that portion of the convicts (one-eighth) sup- posed to be employed in clearing ground and fencing it for settlement; the proceeds of the sale of which would be paid into the Commissariat chest, for the benefit of the Treasury. The number employed in this way would depend, of course, upon the demand for land. It would be useless to clear much more than would be sold within a few months of the time it was cleared; and if this work was done by task-for which there would be every facility-a small number of men would be able to clear all that could be required. There would then be a large number of men still unemployed; and for these work should be found in such undertakings as would be for the benefit of the colony, still keeping up the same system of task-work as before explained. Great complaints have been made in the colony, of the operation of the rule by which, when the convict is employed on colonial public works, a charge is made upon the Colonial Treasury, equal in amount to that which a private individual would have to pay. The consequence has been, that roads commenced under the old system have never been completed; and that various useful public works have been stopped for want of means of paying for the labour at the rate demanded by the Government. On the other hand, the convicts, not being able to find employment, either from the public or from individuals, have been thrown back upon the hiring depôts, and have been there living in a state of idleness and of vice.
I shall therefore enter into communication upon this subject with the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury; and I trust that I shall be enabled to authorize you to abrogate those regulations which establish a difference between public works executed for the colony, and those performed for the Crown. You will of course, in that case, still give a preference to those works which are calculated to yield a direct return to the British Treasury, with the view of diminishing the charge of the Convict Establishment; but after the means of so employing the convicts are exhausted, you will be at liberty to make use of their labour upon any work of public utility.
Until it shall be in my power to inform you of the assent of the Lords of the Treasury to this change in the existing regulations, it will of course be necessary that they should be adhered to; but I anticipate no practical inconvenience from this circumstance, since, for some time at least, you will. I doubt not, find ample employment for all the convicts, in executing the works which will be necessary in carrying into effect the instructions I have already conveyed to you.
With regard to the probationers.-of whom, as I before stated, there will only be about 6,600 on the Ist of January, 1847,-1 propose to adopt with them the system of task work, as before detailed; but as the whole of these men will, in the course of about two years, emerge from their state of probation, and become pass-holders, you will, in conjunction with the Comptroller, select those best adapted for the description of labour which the probationers will have to perform; and you will employ the gangs, by task-work, in erecting the necessary buildings for the accom modation of 1000 men, such buildings being constructed with the view of keeping the men strictly separate at night, and indeed at all times, unless when working under the eyes of their overseers.
With the view of checking, as much as possible, the commission of those unnatural crimes of which such a fearful account has been given, the men in their present dormitories should be separated by partitions made of strong bars of wood, reaching from floor to ceiling, or by planked partitions of less height, so as to allow a circulation of air above. The latter plan would I think be the best, if it should be found to afford suffi- cient ventilation for the purpose of health.
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